Dead witness calls off cops' murder trial

The death of one of the Crown witnesses in the case of the three policemen who are on trial for the murder of two men who were abducted from a plaza in 2004 was one of the reasons for an early adjournment being granted yesterday.

It was reported that the witness died in May from natural causes but the prosecutors were just hearing yesterday of her death.

Assistant Superintendent of Police Victor Barrett and Constables Paul Edwards and Louie Lynch are charged with the murder of 20-year-old Kemar Walters, an apprentice mechanic of Kitson Town, St Catherine, and 28-year-old Oliver Duncan, a shopkeeper and blockmaker of Olympic Gardens, Kingston 11.

Findings into senior cop's alleged cheating ready

The probe into allegations that a superintendent of police was caught cheating on an external exam at the Police Staff College has been completed, but the findings and recommendations have not yet been turned over to Commissioner of Police Owen Ellington.

The superintendent, who was in charge of the Polygraph Unit, has since been transferred from the Anti-Corruption Branch where he was assigned at the time of the alleged incident in August.

The superintendent, an 18-year veteran of the force, was allegedly caught cheating in August while he and a group of officers were sitting an associate degree exam at the Police Staff College in Twickenham Park, St Catherine.

Police officials reported then that statements had been collected and the probe would be completed by the end of the week and the file sent to Ellington for action.

The accused superintendent, according to high-ranking members of the force, was poised to become the chief polygraph officer in the Caribbean.